Pigs, research, and me
This post is about animal research, so stop here if that will bother you.
We are having horrible, horrible weather here. Today I took a shortcut through a back part of the health sciences buildings because I didn't want to walk outside. Part of the building is under construction, so the detour requires a walk out through a loading dock. As I walked out, I passed a man unloading a crate from his truck and wheeling it into the building. Inside were two young piglets in hay, rooting around and snuggling with each other.
I don't have a problem with animal research on mice or worms or zebrafish because frankly, I'm not crazy about rodents and the lower life forms. But when you get into pigs and dogs and cats and primates, then I am not such a big fan of animal research. Does that stand up to a strict philosophical litmus test? No. Hell, it doesn't stand up to a weak one. All can feel pain (OK, maybe not the worms/zebrafish), but I certainly empathize more with the larger animals than with the mice.
This conflict is hard for me because it directly impacts my chosen field. I can go straight to the literature and pull up tons of studies pointing to the gains we've made because of animal research. Last week we saw radiation-labeled studies in a pregnant monkey, and I squirmed seeing the monkey fetus taking up tons of radiation. Does it help the humans? Yes. With all my health problems, have I benefited directly from animal research? Absolutely. But does it feel right? Nope. I can't shake the mental image of the little piglets headed off to their cages in health sciences, where they will be tested on and eventually euthanized for science. Ugh.
This is the worst part of school for me. I don't have to do any animal research myself, thank God, and the vast majority (over 90%) of cancer research is no longer done on larger mammals (anything larger than a mouse). But still, ugh. Now I understand why my workplace has a drill for animal activists. Seeing the animals up close, I want to run after them and bring them home with me. I really wish I hadn't taken the detour today and had walked in the rain instead.
We are having horrible, horrible weather here. Today I took a shortcut through a back part of the health sciences buildings because I didn't want to walk outside. Part of the building is under construction, so the detour requires a walk out through a loading dock. As I walked out, I passed a man unloading a crate from his truck and wheeling it into the building. Inside were two young piglets in hay, rooting around and snuggling with each other.
I don't have a problem with animal research on mice or worms or zebrafish because frankly, I'm not crazy about rodents and the lower life forms. But when you get into pigs and dogs and cats and primates, then I am not such a big fan of animal research. Does that stand up to a strict philosophical litmus test? No. Hell, it doesn't stand up to a weak one. All can feel pain (OK, maybe not the worms/zebrafish), but I certainly empathize more with the larger animals than with the mice.
This conflict is hard for me because it directly impacts my chosen field. I can go straight to the literature and pull up tons of studies pointing to the gains we've made because of animal research. Last week we saw radiation-labeled studies in a pregnant monkey, and I squirmed seeing the monkey fetus taking up tons of radiation. Does it help the humans? Yes. With all my health problems, have I benefited directly from animal research? Absolutely. But does it feel right? Nope. I can't shake the mental image of the little piglets headed off to their cages in health sciences, where they will be tested on and eventually euthanized for science. Ugh.
This is the worst part of school for me. I don't have to do any animal research myself, thank God, and the vast majority (over 90%) of cancer research is no longer done on larger mammals (anything larger than a mouse). But still, ugh. Now I understand why my workplace has a drill for animal activists. Seeing the animals up close, I want to run after them and bring them home with me. I really wish I hadn't taken the detour today and had walked in the rain instead.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home